The Pendragon's Hall

At last! To paraphrase "Dumb and Dumber," just when you think President Bush is completely useless, he gives a speech like yesterday and totally redeems himself. For years, critics of the Iraq War have compared it to Vietnam. For that matter, liberals love comparing wars to Vietnam, forgetting apparently they actually got us stuck there and it was their arch-enemy Nixon who got us out. Bush yesterday turned the tables on these critics, noting that the American withdrawal from Vietnam did not lead to peace and stability but to more slaughter and repression than the area had ever known. Of course, liberals and (I blush to say it) historians are backpedaling furiously, saying, "That's not what we meant." A fictional president in one of Joel Rosenburg's books noted that "The lesson of Vietnam is that one cannot begin a war against the empire of evil without a plan to win it." Bush echoed the sentiment and rightly so. Iraq is not Vietnam, except perhaps for the loud chorus of antiwar loonies, but what most people don't recognize is that even Vietnam didn't have to be Vietnam, except that it was handled all wrong. In Vietnam, we should have learned that leaving before the job is done and selling out our friends in favor of our enemies is no way to conduct a war. It is scary that we haven't learned from Vietnam, but not in the way most people seem to suggest.

This is from the "Why-Do-We-Want-To-Be-Like-Them-Again?" file. ABC's "Good Morning America" reported today that a couple living in Calgary recently had quadruplets. When the mother went into labor, there was no Neo-Natal unit in the entire city, or indeed the entire province, who could take her. Her doctor made some frantic calls and the whole entourage ended up flying 300 miles to...Montana. The Pendragon is always grimly amused when fellow Americans express longing for the free health care system espoused by Canada, Cuba and North Korea. At least we don't have to leave the country to get care. It wasn't even as if the complication of having quadruplets demanded care in San Francisco or Seattle or somewhere with a big hospital. They just needed a bed. What does it say about the quality of Canadian health care that a couple living in one of Canada's largest cities had to fly to Montana to get helped? The answer, I think, should be obvious.

The Pendragon returns. Hopefully by this time next week, our new house will have internet so you can read my take on current events more regularly. Today's topic: Michael Vick. The controversial Atlanta Falcons QB is facing jail time, fines, and possible suspension from the game for his support and operation of a dogfighting ring in Virginia. The Pendragon is very fond of dogs, but this story would be more stirring if the Baltimore Ravens didn't win a Super Bowl seven years ago with a roster full of convicted murderers and rapists. Apparently if Ray Lewis had trained dogs for the ring, he could finally have been suspended and jailed. The Pendragon applauds the NFL for punishing Vick, but this is a tad overdrawn, is it not? At the same time, I don't mean to suggest that because one wrong wasn't punished, another one should be overlooked. This is how politicians get away with misdemeanors--"A girl was raped last year at a sorority house and nothing was done about it, so I should get away with raping a girl as well." What it should do is cause us to realize that famous people make mistakes and do wrong things as well, and need to be called to account for them. And maybe the fact that you can kill a guy and rape a girl but can't abuse a dog should give everyone calling for Vick's blood a little perspective.

This entry is completely the Pendragon's own opinion and is not influenced by affection for Vick, whom I rather dislike, or loyalty to the Atlanta Falcons, whom I hate with a passion.

There was some heartening news for the Pendragon amid my sports-teams' dismal showing last night (the Blue Jays went down 4-1 to the Royals and the Giants lost to their arch-nemesis Carolina 24-21 in their preseason opener): Mitt Romney proved he is a viable presidential candidate by trouncing his 10 opponents in the Iowa straw poll. For my foreign readers, this has nothing to do with the caucus (to be held sometime in December or January, I forget which) but gives an idea which way Iowa is leaning. The last two victors in the straw poll went on to win the Republican presidential nomination (Bob Dole in 1995 and George W. Bush in 1999). It is no guarantee and of course backers of Giuliani and McCain are defending their candidates' choice not to compete, saying they were saving their money for the real contest, but the spunky Pendragon begs to differ: Giuliani and McCain, quite simply, have no money to spend. Nobody is donating to them--few people are pulling for them. Whether this "victory" translates into something more substantial for Romney, who continues to dominate the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida, while trailing a distant fourth nationally, remains to be seen, but it is an exciting development that may be a portent of things to come. In the meanwhile, true Republicans should take heart--you will not be condemned to choose between Hillary Giuliani and Rudy Clinton.

The conflicted Pendragon feels the need to respond to Tom Tancredo's suggestion that any future terrorist attack be answered by bombing Mecca. On the one hand, well, he's just desperately trying to get some support for his floundering presidential campaign. And in reality nobody would ever do it. Yet I also sympathize with critics who note that bombing Mecca would not solve anything. Yet again the problem with fighting wars is that if someone hates you enough to attack you, any response you make is bound to make them hate you more. Even if the US only responded by flattening the house the masterminds of the attack were in, their friends would use the retaliation as an excuse to recruit more for their campaign of terror. Only the annihilation of the West and all it stands for will satisfy these people. By all means, let's engage in rational debate over the desirability of bombing Islam's holiest site (something they would not hesitate to do to any religion, or even their own, with whom they happened to disagree), but let's not have commentators, conservative or liberal, telling us that bombing Mecca would raise any more militant Islamists than bombing Al-Qaeda headquarters in the wastelands of Pakistan. It won't. It'll have exactly the same effect.

There does appear to be good news from the front in Iraq. President Bush's political fortunes rise in conjunction with the good news (further proof his legacy is tied to victory in Iraq, which justifies his continuing obsession with it) but are rising much faster than the fortunes of his Democratic opponents in Congress. Nevertheless I counsel all supporters of the war to not let your guard down. This is still not going to be easy. Our opponents are waiting on tenterhooks for us to say, "Oh, it's all over. We've won and it's all downhill now." Then the first bad news will have them gloating over how stupid we were. Wars are messy affairs--lots of ups and downs--and a plan made from outside the war zone rarely works to perfection on the ground. Eisenhower noted that during the World War he had to change plans repeatedly because some facet just wouldn't work and had to be discarded. And he was one of the greatest generals in American history. Let's not assume we know more than he did.

The reasons to support Mitt Romney keep mounting. The Pendragon received an email from the campaign entitled "A Surge of Support." I opened it cautiously, expecting it to be a plea for money. It was--but it was a plea for Romney supporters to join any number of non-profit organizations collecting money for care packages for our soldiers overseas. See the full list here. The Pendragon is impressed that a presidential candidate, usually in quest of cash for themselves, is urging his supporters to send care packages to the troops and providing the links to do so. The Pendragon joins Mr. Romney in encouraging all his American readers to do what they can to show our troops we're still behind them.

On Townhall.com yesterday, the Pendragon stumbled across what may be the most passionate, yet also the most reasonable, historically- and religiously-based defense of Christians reading Harry Potter. I did not know myself some of the Christian imagery he explores, but his argument that American, indeed Western, Christians don't know what their own religion is, certainly holds. The ignorance of the modern Church is only to be outweighed by its smug moral superiority complex. Anyway, check out the article here.